Letters to Him
by Zutzi alias Susi
Summary: In the summer after his 5th year, Harry's still living in Privet Drive. But he gets some letters of somebody who doesn’t want to sign. Could it be a Death Eater? And what is it with Dudley’s strange girlfriend who shows interest in Harry?
1. A Letter to Him xxxProloguexxx

**_A/N:_**_ I just had to type that little piece of letter because I think that something like that was very missing in OotP ... just read and review!_

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling._

============================

**_A Letter to Him_**

============================

Hey Harry,

I'm so sorry about what has happened to your godfather. I just learned about it today. 

Well, I know he wasn't a bad person and that he was innocent. He didn't kill those people and this Pettigrew boy was a bloody traitor. 

I'd very much like to express my condolences, but I think such words sound so empty, heartless and cold, but I simply don't know what to say instead of it. It would sound as if I didn't know him at all and didn't care of him ... well, I really didn't know him, I just saw some of those horrible pictures of him after he escaped from Azkaban, but I did care of him because you did.

I don't know how it is like to lose somebody. My mum's dad died when she was only four, it was an accident. The driver of the truck overlooked him on the bicicle and he got badly injured. After some weeks of hospital he died. Sometimes I think about it and ask myself, What if he had survived? Would he still be alive? Would I have another aunt or uncle? Or some more cousins? Would I be how I am now? Would I even exist?

I don't know. Nobody knows. This are just daydreams. Just some bloody coincidences ... or was it destined? How are they connected? 

Another question that cannot be answered. But I surely know that you are strong. You are stronger than all of your friends, who haven't known so much misery than you have. 

Sirius Black cannot be brought back. He died to save your life. He died as a hero. He will always be well remembered by those who loved him.

Life goes on, so don't be drifting away. It's okay to moan him, but you also have to go back to your daily routines. 

Yes, it's hard, but there is going to be war. Many will die, people you didn't know and probably some friends of yours. But always remember that nobody's death was in vain. Remember Sirius. 

Sincerely yours,

A friend

============================

**_A/N:_**_ How was it? Too bad? My mother tongue is German ... don't kill me if I've written it horribly ... But you can help it with a little review!_


	2. Answering

**_A/N:_**_ First I didn't want to continue the letter, but, hey, here it is! Yes, it's short, I know, but I'm not used to write in English._

_ Anyway, thanks to all people who reviewed: Avatar Arkmage and Nigel T, Karri-Granger (my feelings are not hurt as long as you continue reading my story *grins*), BreakDancist, SheenRox and TheLightningBoltStar (as you can see: it isn't) and thanks to my wonderful beta-readers BreakDancist and SheenRox! _

==================================================

**Letters To Him**

**Chapter 1**

**Answering**

==================================================

Harry was sitting on his bed, the letter in his hands. He didn't really know what to think about it. This letter was so strange. Who would feel for him? The only ones who knew about Sirius' and Harry's connection and who were not from the Order of the Phoenix were the Weasley's, Hermione and Neville. He knew that they felt sorry for him, but they had their own problems. And he simply couldn't think of anybody in the order who would write him.

On the one hand, he was very glad that somebody was expressing his or her condolences…...at least somebody who had tact, who was decent enough to say something friendly without accusing Sirius as a murderer he never was. On the other hand he was a bit annoyed that the letter wasn't signed. At least it wasn't a trap of some death eater.

But on top of it all, he still hadn't overcome his godfather's death. Sirius' death, which was caused by Bellatrix Lestrange, a death eater. He felt the hatred rising in him again; the hatred against Bellatrix Lestrange, against every single death eater and especially against Voldemort.

This hatred grew steadily, and now, in the middle of July, he felt like his head would burst if he wasted his thoughts on Voldemort or any death eater. Harry went to the open window, clenched his fist a few times, breathed in the fresh air and felt a bit calmer. He looked at the owl with chestnut coloured feathers, which had settled down on top of Hedwig's cage. His owl had been out for hours now. He wondered where Hedwig was. Then he thought of the letter again……Should he write back…….?

* * *

He finally decided to do it.

The chestnut coloured owl was still with him and wouldn't go away without a letter. It was rather late and outside night began to fall.

Harry took a piece of parchment and a quill and didn't really know what to write. After several attempts he finally had a version he liked.

* * *

Thanks for the letter, but I'd very much like to know who you are. You said you were a friend, but how could I believe that?

* * *

Well, it was very short, but he thought that everybody who knew him a bit would know that he hated passionately to write (especially essays and exams). Nonetheless, it expressed his feeling of uncertainty well enough without letting to know the addressee too much of his soul.

He petted the owl's head and tied the little message to its foot.

"You're a beautiful owl, you know?" he said to the animal. "But I'd very much like to know to whom you belong. Your master isn't evil, he doesn't serve Voldemort, does he?" The owl cooed and shook its head. Harry grinned. "Sometimes I wish that animals could talk. So take this to your master, okay?"

The owl spread its wings and flew out into the darkness.

==================================================

**_A/N:_**_ Hey! Now I need your help! I need loads of Chinese names! Female and male first names and surnames! Please! You may invent some, it doesn't matter. I'm just a dud in things like that ..._

**_Next chapter:_**_ Harry receives some more letters and some explanations ..._


	3. A Bit of Leisure Time

_I want to apologise for my delay, but it simply wasn't possible to update sooner. And please don't forget that Harry still doesn't know who the letter is from. _

_Looks like I got enough reviews (I must have really low standards, cause I only got 3...). Thanks a BUNCH to: _

**_Sheen Rox:_**_ Thanks, you're the best!!! Love ya! And I want to apologise again for my crazy review for your story, honestly, I meant no harm. begs for pardon once again_

**_f:_**_ Yes, of course I'll finish it, but I don't really know what you wanted with your 2-words-review. But, if you're just a cold heartless person that for some reason has a problem with my fic and wants to flame me, that's fine too, I don't really care what people like you, who only write one single letter as nickname, think, anyway. _

**_mellowyellow36:_**_ Just let me explain. Cho lied about this because she feared that Harry would find out that it was she who had written the letter. It would have been easy to guess if she just wrote something like _I know exactly what it feels like to loose somebody, I recently lost my boyfriend because old Voldie killed him and you survived. _And why doesn't she want him to know? You'll find out in chapter 3. And I did read GoF. Anyway, keep reading and reviewing!_

_And my special thanks goes to April Black for her wonderful extra-information (this chapter is revised now...), and to Sheen Rox and Break Dancist for doing beta-reading again ... I'm so sorry, I'm an idiot, Microsoft Word is idiotic too, you will see why ..._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Celina Pryce is mine, mine, mine!!! (The rest belongs to J.K.R.)_

_Anyway, I've talked enough. Enjoy!_

==================================================

**Letters to Him**

**Chapter 2**

**A Little Bit of Leisure Time**

==================================================

"Harry, what does take you such a long time?" Uncle Vernon shouted. He was sitting in the dining room with Dudley, waiting for his luch.

"I'm coming, Uncle Vernon," Harry said and carried the food from the kitchen into the dining room. When Dudley saw what Harry has cooked he made a face although the potato gratin and the salads didn't look bad at all.

Dudley was still on a diet, but he wasn't as fat as in the previous years. Aunt Petunia meant that it would be good for the health of all of the family members if they only ate meat once a week. Today was one of the remaining six days.

Harry took one portion aside and went into the sitting room to bring it to his Aunt Petunia who laid on the sofa because of her injured back. The accident had happened in the first week of July, when Harry was back at Privet Drive. Since that he had run the whole household, and it was all Dudley's fault.

It seemed incredible, but Dudley really had met a girl. He had started to do weight training to impress her. (As if he hadn't been strong enough before, after all he had practiced thrashing weaker ones all his life.) His parents had bought dumbbells in different weight classes, but most of the time they laid uselessly around on the floor of Dudley's room. Eventually it had happened that Aunt Petunia had stumbled over one of the dumbbells and fell down so unlucky that she injured her spine terribly. Now she could hardly move.

"Here's your lunch," Harry said and put the plate down onto the table to help Aunt Petunia sitting upright.

"Careful! Pay attention!" she shouted. Her face was contorted in pain.

Harry handed her the plate. "If you need something, just call me," he said and went back into the dining room for having lunch.

Uncle Vernon complained a lot about his firm (business was slack at the moment), but when they had finished eating Harry had to help his Aunt to go into the car. She had to go to hospital for checking her spine. She propped herself up on Harry's and Dudley's shoulders.

"Well, Harry," Uncle Vernon said to him. "Don't do any nonsense while we aren't at home."

"Yes, Uncle Vernon", Harry replied. He knew very well that Dudley didn't accompany his parents to the hospital because of his hospital-trauma. The last time when he was there was when Hagrid had given him a tail in his fury. But of course Dudley wasn't directed not to do any nonsense.

"Bye, Dad, 'till later", Dudley said and the boys went back into the house together. Harry started immediately to wash the dishes because they'd hardly clean up on their own and he wasn't permitted to perform any magic during holidays. Dudley was still staring through a window onto the street.

"What is it, Dudley?" Harry asked. His doing-nothing was very unnerving.

"Mum and Dad are gone now", Dudley said and turned around to face his cousin. "I'll meet with Celina now, understood?"

"Really?", Harry asked without looking up from his work.

"Yes," Dudley replied. "And you won't tell Mum and Dad anything about it because they suppose me here while they're not at home."

"And what if I squeal on you? If I do any nonsense it's your fault because you were supposed to do baby-sitting."

"You won't do anything," Dudley said. He seamed to be very confident of victory. "Because you like a free afternoon better than to do what I say, don't you?"

Harry raised his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean? Do you propose a deal to me? I won't do any nonsense and have some leisure time, and in return you will go out with Celina?"

"If you express it that way... The whole thing is full of advantages for you. If you are up to something, it will be all my fault because I wasn't permitted to go out." It seamed that Dudley was fully aware of the consequences.

"Okay." Harry devoted again to the dishes. He didn't believe everything Dudley had said, after all Dudley was his parents' darling and not Harry, but he hadn't planned to do any nonsense.

"Well then," Dudley said, "'till later." And he was out of the door.

Dudley's girlfriend Celina Pryce had moved with her family to Little Whinging only about two weeks ago. They lived at Number One, Privet Drive. As far as Harry could tell, it was love at first sight. Celina looked a bit like Dudley, she could have been Millicent Bullstrode's little sister. She was stout and not the prettiest girl on earth.

At first Harry had been very irritated by Celina because she had shown interest in Harry, too. She had often watched him when he was working in the garden. But since Dudley had asked her to go out with him she had left Harry in peace; and he was glad about it.

When he finally had finished doing the washing-up, he went up into his room. He hadn't had any time for doing his homework yet. He had had to work too much. He opened his potions-book of the last year and leafed through it, when he noticed some magazines Hermione had sent him. He hadn't had time to read them yet.

The muggle magazines were quite interesting. They were about scientists who did research with people who had died or what happened to the mind of somebody who has lost a loved one and so on. This brought back his old pain.

So far Harry hadn't had any time to morn properly. Sometimes he had managed to forget Sirius for a little while. Now these magazines caused him to see everything again in his inner eye. He had never expected the following outburst.

He laid his head down on his arms and let out his pain and his grief. It was the first time that he really cried about his Godfather, and he only cried now because he knew very well that nobody else was at home and nobody could hear him.

He knew that Hermione had meant no harm with these magazines. Harry was glad that she had thought of him. He mustn't forget that Hermione and Ron had known Sirius as well.

Eventually Harry went into the bathroom and cleaned his face with cold water. His inner pain was still there and under no circumstances smaller, but he felt better, a bit stronger as if he was ready now to bring it to an end.

Sirius Black was dead and he couldn't change anything, as well as he couldn't bring back his parents or Cedric Diggory or all the other people who were killed by Voldemort. He had to put up with it and live on.

He went back into his room and saw Hedwig. She had come back some minutes before. Harry noticed the letter on her foot and took it off her. Now he remembered the chestnut owl again. Yesterday evening she had returned with a letter for him, but Harry had been much too tired to read it. The owl had settled down in Hedwig's cage and now the two owls started an owl fight.

Hedwig was furious because of the strange owl that had been in _her_ cage and now she hunted the other one in Harry's room, hooting dangerously.

"Hedwig! Calm down again!" Harry shouted at his owl. Eventually he managed to persuade her to go into her cage while the strange owl settled down on the bedstead of Harry's bed.

First Harry opened Ron's letter, which was very short:

Hey Harry,

I can't tell you much, only that I finally managed to persuade Mum and Dad to do something that you can get away from your relatives. Hope that you can come soon.

Bye, Ron

Immediately Harry took a piece of parchment, ink and his quill to answer him.

Hey Ron,

Thanks for your support, I have to work here like an idiot. (You know, Aunt Petunia.) I'd like to be somewhere else but not here, but not there where ... you know. I don't want to return so soon.

Bye, Harry

Harry knew that he wasn't allowed to write anything into his letters that could be essential for Death Eaters. Because of this he couldn't mention Grimmauld Place. But he was sure that Ron would know what he meant.

He took the letter aside and finally opened the letter of the stranger. It read:

_Hey Harry,_

_Yes, I didn't write a name, and now I'm disappointed by myself. You know, I tried to write that letter several times, and then I've finally found a version that pleased my enough to send it. __I'm an idiot. __I've forgotten this important part. You really can't know why I know this all and that I'm not a death eater. And I'm writing nonsense again._

_Anyhow, I learned about Sirius Black and his past a few days ago. It's a bit complicated. My uncle was in Sirius' year (he was a Ravenclaw) and he said that they knew each other since they were young. But after the sorting into the different houses they made other friends. Sometimes they quarrelled about Quidditch or girls (or both), but my uncle said that he never lost trust in Sirius._

_After school they seldom met each other because my uncle and his former girlfriend went to Germany to become Aurors. They also wanted to learn the language and of course they felt much safer there (you know, you-know-who's rise ...)._

_My uncle came back to the U.K. after war was over and after he had finished his Auror-training. He married a German witch and started working for the ministry in London. This is where he learned about what had happened to Sirius, what had really happened to him. He said that there wasn't much about your Godfather in the newspapers, only about you-know-who and your parents and of course you. But my uncle still confirms again and again that Sirius would never have killed those people._

_There were rumours that Sirius Black had a secret residence, and in the end of June my uncle learned about this fight with Bellatrix Lestrange and the other escaped prisoners and the outcome because of his job as Auror. He was shocked._

_I know my uncle very well, and he doesn't speak it out loud, but he does feel very sorry that he hadn't had a chance to see him once again._

_Actually, my dad forbid me to open letters, and I know he'd rather see that I don't  even write letters any more because you can never know what they really are. (Have you ever heard of muggle letter bombs?) _

_Sorry, have to go now and I have to finish it, if you are to get it today._

_Bye._

Well, Harry was a bit confused now. He had got so many information, but he still didn't know anything concrete about the other person. He knew perfectly about the stranger's family history. Why did they write him?

As he hadn't had to do anything better, he replied.

_Hey,_

_Everything you wrote is true, and it's good to know where you've got your information from. But sorry, I still don't know whether to trust you or not. It seems that you know everything about me and Sirius and I haven't got a clue who you are. Do I even know you?_

_Harry_

He tied the letter onto the foot of the chestnut owl and sent her off. When he stood at the window and gazed after the owl, he suddenly remembered to write to Remus Lupin.

At the end of term he had promised to write every three days a letter. But he had had to work so much that he had overlooked the date. He should have written a letter two days ago!!!

Quickly he sat down again and took his quill when the doorbell rang.

Damn, who could be this now? he thought. Surely it's not a Death Eater, they wouldn't appear here in bright daylight and of course they wouldn't ring the doorbell.

So he ran down the stairs, opened the door and nearly began laughing. He saw Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody and surprisingly Professor Snape standing in front of him, no-one of them looking like pleasing the presence of the other one. Especially Lupin and Snape looked at each other unkindly, as if they were still small boys who hated each other with a passion. And on top of it all they wore wizard's clothes.

"Hurry up! I hope the neighbours haven't seen you," Harry said and stepped aside to let them in. He never would have dreamt of seeing Snape at Privet Drive.

"Harry, what did the muggles do to you that you couldn't write a letter?" Remus Lupin asked, looking very concerned. They all went into the kitchen.

"Oh, nothing, really. My aunt had hurt her spine and now I've to run the whole household on my own. I simply haven't got time to write a letter." Harry looked embarrassed. He felt Snape's gaze in his back and felt very uncomfortable.

"And where are your aunt and uncle now?" Moody asked. He let his magic eye circle around, searching for suspicious items in the house.

"They're in the hospital, my aunt is getting examined," Harry replied truthfully. Snape sneaked through the kitchen and looked around suspiciously, but without touching anything.

Lupin also seemed to be very nervous because of Snape's presence. "Ehem, Harry, is there anything else you want to talk about with us? Because we're here now ..."

"The letter," Harry said without thinking. Suddenly he remembered that he would have liked to keep it a secret.

"What letter, boy?" Moody asked directly.

"A few days ago I've got a letter, but I don't know from who it was. There was nothing threatening or dangerous in it...," Harry said.

"YOU HAVE OPENED IT?!?" Lupin shouted in horror.

"Ehem, yes, it looked harmless," Harry said quietly.

"Do you know that the letter could have been from some Death Eaters?!?" Moody spat a bit, but Harry simply nodded.

"And the Potter I know, will have replied to the letter," Snape suggested maliciously and as if Harry wasn't in the same room. Lupin looked at Snape annoyed, then he looked back at Harry.

"You haven't really ...?" he asked disbelievingly.

Harry swallowed. "I have."

"Argh!!!" Lupin sighed while Moody still let his magic eye circle around and Snape grinned. "You haven't thrown it away, have you?"

"I still have it," Harry said, lucky for having done _something_ right. "I'll fetch it." He ran up into his room and took the first letter. The second one he'd better leave unmentioned.

Back in the kitchen, he handed it to Moody. He unfolded the letter and Snape looked over the old man's shoulder to read. Lupin looked reproachfully at Harry.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled.

Lupin sighed again. "We certainly will take the letter with us to check it, Harry. Maybe we'll find some hints to a Death Eater. It could be dangerous if it was bewitched. So if you get a reply I suppose you not to open it, have you understood, Harry?" He nodded. Snape watched him suspicious as if he knew that Harry had only told them half of the truth.

"Everything okay, Harry?" Moody asked, while he put the letter into his pocket. Harry smiled. "Then we'll set off again, won't we?" he said. Then he turned to Harry. " Order business, you know."

Harry grinned and they all turned back to the front door which suddenly swung open. A totally scared Dudley Dursley and a confused looking Celina Pryce entered.

==================================================

**_A/N:_**_ I'm so sorry, but the refreshing of Harry's grief because had to be because he had to bring his pain over Sirius to an end._

**_A/N 2:_**_ It will take me some time to update because school is literally killing me ... Sorry!!!_

**_Next Chapter:_**_ We'll see what somebody else is doing in her holidays. Oh, and I nearly forgot: Wizards are still in Number 4, Privet Drive!_


	4. Magical Insurance Agents

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, only Celina Pryce is mine and the first part of this chapter – no, actually it's the whole chapter – was written under _Tomigol's bad influence. _Yes, I mean you, Tomigol. If you ever read this, which isn't very probably, we have to talk. _

_If you don't like how I've written Chapter 3, I can give you Tomigol's e-mail address. Just flame him, he can stand it, believe me._

_And I'm very sorry for letting you wait so long for the new chapter ... 2 Months ... shame on me ... I reckon the next one will be posted in 2 or 3 weeks ... hopefully ..._

_Important! Wizards are of age when they turn **17.** In OotP Fred and George Apparated in the holidays, so I reckon they were allowed to use magic as well. If not, tell me, but I think I'll use this system. It will be essential in some future chapters..._

_Thanks to my beta-readers Sheen Rox and ERMonkey, Queen of Insanity and Caff-BreakDancist!_

_And thanks to everybody who reviewed:_

**_Daintress:_**_ Thank you for telling me, it's nice to hear that you don't go over my story without paying attention. Of course I'll try to improve. _

**_ferokeroberos:_**_ Dudley is looking scared because it doesn't happen every day that you find three people in wizarding robes standing in your kitchen. Remember, he's a Dursley..._

**_Armageddon1:_**_ Thank you, I hope you like the new chapter!_

**_Nosilla:_**_ Sorry, I won't spoil my own story, but you'll find out at the end of this chapter._

**_ERMonkey, Queen of Insanity:_**_ Thank you, and I hope you liked Chapter 3, as you've already read it... And once again, I'm very sorry that it took me soooo long..._

**_chocoliciouz:_**_ Oh, lazy, aren't we??? grins Hope you got my e-mail. And BTW, I think it's better this way as I'm sure you don't want to get an e-mail everytime I'm posting a new chapter of my German story..._

**_oysteinsevag:_**_ Wüüürzburg is cool ... with many many üüü ... haha, I can type the dots onto the u's ... haha!!! --- Sorry, I don't feel sane at the moment ... my head feels so airy ... so many reviews ... Anyway, if you could hear me talking in English you probably wouldn't understand a single word ... Austrian accent is even worse than German accent (although it is the same language ...)_

**_Mrs.ProfessorLupin:_**_ Oh, I wanted to know some Chinese names because of ... you'll learn in this chapter, I won't spoil my story, sorry. But I've done some research and now it isn't important any more ... Nevertheless, if you know some, please tell me!!!_

**_Crystal:_**_ Did you get my e-mail??? Because you didn't respond... _

**_Kaitee:_**_ Thanks, and please keep reading and reviewing!!!_

**_Hi Im Crazy:_**_ Hi, I'm crazy too, and thanks for reviewing, here's the update!_

**_Alex:_**_ You'll learn in this chapter, I promise!!!_

**_Katie:_**_ Thanks anyway, there are some people who say the opposite, but they have to cope with it. Keep reading and reviewing!!!_

**_Sheen Rox:_**_ Thank you so much, you're the best!!! gives you some cookies_

**_HoshiHikari4ever:_**_ I totally agree, Snape can read minds (at least Harry's...) _

**_Lizzabeth Turner:_**_ Harry really talks more about his family than usually, but a) I just thought that it was necessary and b) from now on there will be more action. Too many thoughts can ruin the story. Sometimes. However. Keep reading and reviewing!!!_

**_lurid-eyes:_**_ Well, but I'm sure you won't go mad. BTW, this chapter ends again with a cliffy ... sorry! Kinda habit ..._

**_PIRO the unforgiven one:_**_ Thank you, and I don't care if you sounded cheesy or not, just keep reading my story._

**_Little Eirtae:_**_ I'm everything but not British, but I'm used to spell things like that because of school ... Hey, it's not my fault that my teachers seem to like B.E. better than A.E._

_OMG, OMG, OMG! So many reviews! I hope I didn't forget someone... Cookies for everyone!_

_I'm done. And now on with the story. Enjoy!_

**==================================================**

**Letters to Him**

**Chapter 3**

**Magical Insurance Agents**

==================================================

Harry nearly forgot to breathe. In the corridor of Number 4, Private Drive, the most different people eyed each other in a very strange way:

On the one end stood Harry's nasty and fat cousin with his pesky girlfriend, both with surprised and scared looks on their faces.

On the other end, two of Harry's former teachers, Lupin and Moody, as well as his Potions master, Professor Snape, were thinking desperately about whether to draw out their wands or not.

Harry quickly thought of an excuse. "Well, the three insurance agents were about to go, right, Gentlemen?" he said and tried to appear relaxed.

Lupin bent down to Harry. "Harry, who's that girl?"

"This is Dudley's girlfriend," he whispered. "She's a Muggle."

"She could be a Death Eater," Moody whispered.

"I don't think so," Harry said. "Today it was the first time she entered the house."

In the meantime Dudley had stepped in front of Celina so that she couldn't see either the wizards or his expression. Harry could tell that Dudley was frightened to death. He had met wizards before, but he had never been alone in a house full of magical people. He was helpless like a beetle lying on the back.

"Could you please disappear from this place?" Dudley said with shaky voice.

Now Snape joined in. "Potter, better be careful with strangers in your house." Harry nodded. Eventually the wizards turned to the door and disappeared.

"Bye, Harry." Lupin waved and closed the door. Then Dudley started screaming.

"Damn, damn, damn!" he shouted. He took a deep breath and brought his voice back under control. "Celina, please wait here. I'm back in a few seconds."

The girl nodded with dreamy eyes. Dudley grabbed Harry's wrist and pulled him into the kitchen. He closed the door.

"Harry, what were they DOING here? If Dad knew..."

"They haven't done anything," Harry said with the utmost caution. Under no circumstances he wanted to provoke Dudley.

"I WILL TELL DAD EVERYTHING _AND_ THAT CELINA HAS SEEN THEM! YOU'RE IN FOR IT NOW!" he roared.

"Really? I thought it was _you_ who went out and came home with a girl!" Harry began to become angry. Dudley should have been glad that the wizards hadn't cursed him. After all, Moody, Snape and Lupin were allowed to use magic whenever they wanted to.

Dudley grinned maliciously. "Nobody must ever know about it, hmm? I have been at home the whole afternoon and you have never got visits from any ... madmen, have you, Harry?"

Whoa, Harry thought, Dudley really has a brain and knows how to use it. But he had no choice. Even if Dudley did squeal on him, in the end everything would have been Harry's fault. He had to agree.

"Okay, no word to anybody." The two boys eyed each other, then Dudley left the kitchen and went back to Celina.

Harry passed them to go to the staircase and up into his room.

"Celina, please don't ask, but you have to go now. It has nothing to do with you, and I'm very sorry," Dudley said surprisingly gentle.

The girl nodded and quickly turned to Harry. "Harry, who were those guys?"

Harry winced and stopped. "Oh ... um ... they were only ... some insurance agents. Yes, insurance agents. I've brushed them off."

"They didn't look like insurance agents at all. You knew them, didn't you?" she asked. Harry wanted to run into his room as fast as possible, because Dudley's face already turned red in anger – or because of jealousy.

"No, I didn't know them. Bye!" With these words he went upstairs and didn't look back.

"Bye, Harry, see you soon!" the girl shouted. Nevertheless, Harry looked back. Celina looked at him with those pesky, dreamy eyes.

Five minutes later Dudley burst in, very red in the face, Harry almost sniggered at the resemblance he held to Uncle Vernon.

"Harry, why do you wanna steal my girlfriend?" he said.

"I ... what?" Harry asked flabbergasted. He closed the book he had been reading in.

"You permanently flirt with her!" Dudley complained.

"Oh..." Harry understood now. Dudley was jealous. Of him. Harry was enjoying this feeling.

"Dudley, let her decide what she wants and with who she wants to be with" he advised. His cousin lost his temper, rushed to him and threw him to the ground. Then he started hitting him.

Harry winced, when he felt the pain coming from Dudley's fist that crashed into his stomach. As he hit him for the second time, Harry saw some stars dancing in front of his eyes.

Harry became really angry and clenched his fists. Unfortunately he couldn't reach his wand because Dudley succeeded in holding his hands down. Considering his hopeless position, Harry became more and more furious. Dudley's fist collided with him for the third time. Harry gave a scream, which was so loud and powerful, that Dudley was hurled across the room and out of the door. Eventually he crashed to the floor.

Both boys stood up with some difficulty and looked at each other furiously. Harry held his hurting stomach and Dudley had a scary flash in his eyes. Now Harry really feared his cousin and told himself to exhibit some self-control. Suddenly the door slammed and the key turned itself in the lock. Harry caught the key, before falling back onto his bed and fainting.

When Harry woke up, he could still feel a pulsating pain in his stomach. He stood up and tried not to fall down again. Slowly he went into the bathroom and was shocked, as he saw his mirror image. His face was like alabaster.

He drank some cold water and went back into his room. He laid down, thinking of everything.

Dudley was jealous of him, had beaten him up and then Harry had done magic without a wand. His thoughts were spinning around, but he was exhausted and soon fell asleep.

But he didn't find rest. Again he dreamt the dream of Cedric's death and Voldemort's return. He woke with a start. Since he has been back at Privet Drive, he hadn't had any nightmares at all.

As it was rather late, he prepared supper. Thankfully, Dudley was nowhere in sight. Eventually Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia came home, Dudley followed them. He stormed up into his room; he must have been in the garden.

"Aunt Petunia, how's your back?" Harry asked exhaustedly.

"Oh, a lot better," she said. "I'm not allowed to work hard, but I don't have to lie around the whole day anymore."

Neither Harry nor Dudley talked much that evening. When Harry finally got back into his room, he sat down and took parchment and quill to write to Ron and Hermione.

_Hey Ron/Hermione,_

_I urgently need your advice. What would you do if your furious cousin were jealous of you because of a girl you don't like? How can I get rid of her? And what would you do if you had recently done some accidental wandless magic?_

Harry

He wrote this letter to each of them and put them aside, waiting for Hedwig to return with a letter from Ron. He worried a lot about Dudley and what he could do in his fury.

==================================================

Cho was in the sitting room in her family's flat. She was alone and cried, because she couldn't take it any longer.

It all had started at the beginning of the summer holidays. Her uncle had come on a visit and told some stories about his adventures as Auror. This was when she learned about Sirius Black's mysterious death. She hadn't thought much about it, she was still about to hate Harry for his childish behaviour.

Some days later, when her parents hadn't been at home, she'd had some creepy visitors.

Flashback

Cho had been at home alone. Her father was still at work (he was an editor at the Daily Prophet) and her mother was shopping with Cho's little sister Gwen. Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Is it you, Uncle Simon? I thought you had a key," she shouted. Nobody answered, and when she opened the door, she knew why. It wasn't Simon Chang, who stood on the other side of the door, but two strange men in wizard's robes, with hidden faces and drawn wands.

"What..." Cho began and made a step back. Unfortunately, she didn't have her wand with her.

"Keep cool, girl," the smaller one said. "We won't do anything to you."

"Really?" Cho asked with a shaky voice. The men laughed.

"Well, we want you to do something," the taller one said smirking. "You're Harry Potter's girlfriend, aren't you?"

"Well..." Cho didn't know what to say.

"However, you will write him some letters. He trusts you. At least you have been a couple," the taller one said. He seemed to be further up on the order of precedence.

"How do you know about Harry and me?" she asked with strong voice. She sounded braver than she felt.

"We don't talk about our sources."

"Why?" she asked.

"Why what?" This question seemed to confuse the men.

"Why do you want me to do this? You can't force me to do it!" Her voice was still confident, but her heart was beating fast in her chest.

"Oh yes, girl, we can. We receive our instructions directly from the Dark Lord." As she heard his name, she winced. "And we won't consider what we will do if you won't obey" they continued threateningly.

"No!" Cho shouted. "I don't believe you! Everybody can tell this..."

Cho stopped talking abruptly because the faceless men pulled up their sleeves so that she could see the skulls of the Dark Mark on their left forearms.

She began screaming. She screamed until there was no more air in her lungs, then she hurriedly took a deep breath and continued screaming.

The Death Eaters were paralysed with fear. They were in a Muggle flat and surely the screaming would have alerted the neighbours. One of the men closed the door quickly and spoke a Silencing Charm, while the other one spirited Cho's voice away and tied her up.

"Be quiet now, silly brat," the taller one said to her. She tried to scream, but not a single sound escaped her mouth. Meanwhile Cho's throat hurt, but she could do nothing, dumb and tied up as she was.

"Well now, you'll write some letters to Potter. It doesn't matter what you are writing, but don't mention us to anybody. Not to Potter, not to your parents, not to your uncle, to nobody. Win back his trust in you. Did you understand?"

Now tears ran over Cho's cheeks, but she nodded obediently.

"Good. If you don't do as we say you'll have to cope with the consequences. Take the Silencing Charm off her." The taller man said to the other.

The smaller one gave back her voice, but Cho had the good sense to keep quiet.

"Any questions?"

"W-will you do something to me or m-my family?" She had to sniff.

The Death Eater laughed. "Only if you don't obey. Do what we are telling you to do and we'll leave you in peace. We'll come back next week."

The Death Eaters removed her shackles and vanished through the door. Cho collapsed on the floor and made a decision.

I'd never do anything that could help Voldemort.

Flashback End

One week later the two Death Eaters returned. Cho couldn't tell them any result, therefore the men swore that she had to pay for it. If she wouldn't begin getting in touch with Harry, they would let her suffer even more.

When they were gone, Cho laughed about them, but on the next morning she heard that her grandfather had been murdered brutally. He had been Muggle.

That day Cho started writing a letter to Harry.

But under no circumstances was she going to write whom the letter was from. She didn't want to endanger herself. That she was endangering Harry didn't matter to her at all at that moment.

Cho was lost in thought when the doorbell rang. She took her wand and tiptoed to the front door. I'll let them think that nobody's at home, she thought. But she could hear the word _"Alohomora!"_ and the door went open.

Cho hid behind a wardrobe. When she heard a step, she stepped forth and shouted, _"Impedimenta!"_

The smaller one of the two Death Eaters froze, but the taller one reacted quickly and disarmed her with _"Expelliarmus!"_

Cho lost her wand and was thrown against the wall. She was dazed and didn't dare to move. In the meantime, the Death Eater had lifted the curse of his fellow and went to Cho. She got back on her feet. The other Death Eater threatened her with his wand.

"Miss Chang, this was not a proper welcome," the smaller one said, smirking slightly, but she could see the anger in his eyes.

"Shut up," the other one blew his companion up. Then he asked Cho, "Did you get in touch with Potter?" She nodded. "Did he respond to your letter?" She nodded again. "What did he write?"

"He ... he doesn't trust me," Cho whispered.

"See to it that he learns to trust you. And remember, no word to anybody. We'll return soon." Then the Death Eater threw her against the wall again. She slipped down and watched them leave the flat and Disparate in front of the door that was still open.

Cho began crying. She cried out all her frustration of the last few days. She had been such a fool. She should have fought against those Death Eaters from the beginning instead of behaving like a little girl. After all she had some experience in duelling, as she had been member of the DA.

The DA. Harry. He had broken her heart on their first real date, as he had started talking about Hermione Granger. She had been so lucky. Admittedly, she would have imagined so many things different, but until their Hogsmede visit, everything had been fine.

And now this. Death Eaters wanted _her_ to win back Harry's trust. They needed her only for hurting Harry. They needed her for their dark machinations, and she couldn't do anything. She didn't know who to ask for help. She didn't know whom she could trust and whom she couldn't, who took her serious and who didn't. But now she knew for sure that the Dark Lord must have come back. Maybe Harry...

Suddenly somebody knocked at the window and Cho winced. But when she turned, she recognized Marron, her owl that had finally returned.

She wiped away her tears and opened the window to let her in. First she stroked Marron's head ( she started feeling better immediately), then she took Harry's letter. And she had to cry again. What was she doing to him?

She opened the letter and read it a few times. She couldn't bring herself to answer him now. Finally she responded on the next morning, after she slept on it.

_Hey Harry, _

_Yes, you do know me, and I'd say that you know me pretty well. But I'd rather not write my name into a letter, for this I'd had too much Auror education. (My uncle likes to tell his adventures, and you never know who could read owl mail ... Talking by fireplace is much more safer, but you are not connected to the Floo network ... I tried it but as a result I banged my head on something … ouch!)_

_I'm sorry to say so, but you don't have to trust me. You can tell me everything and I won't tell it anybody. It feels just good to write to somebody. Above all, if you haven't got to do much ... But holidays are great!_

_Bye._

_P.S. Give Marron (my owl) some rest, she's always so exhausted!_

She succeeded in not mentioning the Death Eaters and sent Marron away to deliver the letter. She prayed that nothing happened to Harry, but she didn't have another choice.

==================================================

**A/N:** Well, what do you think now?

**Next Chapter:** Harry talks to Celina and to a still furious Dudley.

* * *


	5. Advice

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Everything and everybody belongs to J.K.R., blah, blah, blah, you already know that... Ah! Stop. I've created a few people that do not belong to J.K.R., like annoying Celina Pryce or my two Death Eater idiots or a new woman appearing in this chapter for the first time (Okay, you got me, I'll tell you her name now: Anryn. And now don't bother me about her...) or a few other people appearing in further chapters (NO, now I am definitely not going to tell you who they are!). But I'll try very hard not to create too many new people, I promise._

_And to all the people, who put me on their Author Alert list: I'm a very absent-minded human being, so please forgive me that I'm not only working on "Letters to Him", but also translating some English fics into my mother tongue. If you know some awesome fics, just tell me and I'll read and maybe translate them ._

_Thanks to everyone who commented on Chapter Three (or others):_

**_Mason03: _**_Thank you! First I wrote the letter to a friend whose father died, but I changed a few things and added a whole storyline and now here we go, Chapter 4 is up! #grins#_

**_Curlycurlz: _**_Thanks, if I need one, I'll take one of these names, but I hope I don't mess up genders and things like that ..._

**_Draddog: _**_Hey, I'm glad you like it! Keep reading and reviewing!_

**_Ferokeroberos: _**_Thanks, I really try not to keep you waiting too long. And forgive me all my mistakes, I'm a loser. Anyways, what does "Ttyl" mean?_

**_Queen-of-sapphires: _**_Yes, I know that scene when Cho helped Harry to get rid of Filch, it was so cute! Anyways, I needed her to have an own owl, so she got one to her 17th birthday. Don't complain, I'm the author! I'll mention it if it fit's in, I promise!_

**_PIRO the unforgiven one: _**_Oh, of course, take as many as you want! #grins# But leave a few for the other reviewers!_

**_HoshiHikari4ever: _**_Hm, I'm sorry, I've planned the whole thing through until the end of summer (but I'll keep on writing, I promise) and Cho won't tell it to somebody until it's nearly too late ... whoops, what was this? Bad, bad Susie, don't spoil any more! Anyway, I think you'll find Chapter 5 very interesting then..._

**_Tami!!gurl: _**_Well, I love suspense ... or rather, leaving you in suspense! But thanks a lot, take a cookie!_

**_Sheen Rox: _**_Thank you so much, because of you I'm spoiling again... Harry will find out about Cho on his birthday. And Chapter 4, this one, hehe, takes place on 24 July. (Am I crazy if I know exactly what happens on which day?) Anyways, I have to thank you for your corrections, I liked them very much!_

**_James: _**_Well, this is a good question, and I haven't really thought about it now because it'll happen some time in the future, but I know for sure that the point when she recognizes that she really loves him is ... whoa, don't spoil again, Susie! #bangs her head against the monitor like crazy Dobby# But she'll definitely do. But not now. Sorry, really can't tell you more now. #begs for pardon#_

****

_Thanks to my beta-readers Sheenrox and ERMonkey!(Hey, Caff-Break Dancist, are you still alive or did you die waiting for a new chapter?)Anyway, without you lot I'd be lost, so thank you VERY MUCH FOR DOING THIS!_

_And one last thing: By next week, I'll get posted a shortstory about Ginny. In English. Read it, please, and give me a little review! #begs#_

_And finally: On with the story! Enjoy!_

==================================================

**Chapter 4**

**Advice**

==================================================

A few days had passed.

Harry was very glad that his Aunt Petunia was able to move again, so he hadn't had to do everything alone any longer. Aunt Petunia chatted again with the neighbours and could do smaller jobs again. Because of this Harry had a bit more free time. Above all, he used it to learn, because Harry had made a decision. Of course he didn't want Voldemort to get more power to hurt or kill the innocent as it had happened in the past, and the most important of all, he wanted to defeat the Dark Lord. But above all, he didn't want to be one thing: a helpless boy. The rest didn't matter to him. He really wanted to become a weapon, and he wanted to defeat Voldemort, prophecy or no prophecy.

Since he had thrown Dudley, without a wand, but definitely with magic, out of his room, he practiced simple spells without using his wand. Up to now he hadn't succeeded yet, no matter how hard he tried, but he wasn't going to give up.

Besides he had decided to put his hatred against Snape into the background (at the moment he had to worry about things that were more important, he could hate Snape when Voldemort was dead – if they would all survive) and he had continued with his Occlumency exercises before going to bed.

Dudley hadn't mentioned the 'incident' in Harry's room and his parents didn't know about it. He talked even less with his cousin and left Harry in peace. Harry also hadn't said anything about it. Who could have told anyway? The Dursleys would have blamed him, and if he had told Moody and Lupin, they would have come to the Dursleys and in the end it would have been Harry's fault again. So he had just pretended to have stomach-ache – which he actually did have, in a way – and had gone to bed early.

Dudley and Celina had their first row, it was – how could it be different? – Harry's fault. Dudley was sulking because Celina obviously found that Harry and his friends in capes (in the middle of the summer) were more interesting than him. Harry ignored them.

After this incident with Dudley, Harry dreamed every night. Sometimes he awoke bathed in sweat, on other days just a strange feeling, which he couldn't describe, remained. But he could never remember his dreams, so he didn't get too preoccupied with them.

Harry stood up straight and examined his work so far. He had spent the whole afternoon plucking out weed in the garden. It was still very hot; he could feel the tingling sunburn in his neck. Eventually he heard some footsteps behind him. Harry turned around quickly and saw Celina. She cleared her throat.

"What are you doing here? How long have you been watching me?" Harry asked, he didn't care whether he was being impolite or not, why should he?

"Ah, I've just come over here. But I've been watching you for quite a while." She smirked.

"What? Why? Are you..." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Are you one of ... you know..." He didn't dare saying more as he saw her puzzled face.

"What? I can perfectly see into your garden from the window of my room. Harry, you have got a sunburn in your neck."

He rubbed his neck. "Thanks, I've noticed it." He looked her in the eyes for a brief moment, then he decided to finally do it. "Celina, I'd like to know something. And I'd like to get an honest response."

She opened her eyes wide. "What is it, Harry?"

"Well," he started. "Why are you watching me all the time when you're Dudley's girlfriend? Why can't you just leave me in peace?"

"Ah, um, well, this is a bit complicated to explain..." She examined her shoes. "You see...to begin with I thought that I was in love with Dudley..." She trailed off, looking as if she didn't want to say any more.

"But then…" Harry prompted.

"Ah, well, and then I saw you, and when those strange insurance agents appeared a few days ago – they weren't insurance agents really, were they? – you were just…so cool, you just threw them out..."

Harry understood. This girl was fully in love with him. He got a headache from talking to her, besides he didn't know what to do next. So he just turned around and went into the house, leaving Celina in the garden.

As soon as he arrived in his room, he took the answers he had received from Ron and Hermione.

He had got Ron's letter promptly, with an answer he should have been able to guess.

_Harry,_

_If I were you, I'd just get out of her way and I wouldn't talk to her any longer. Fred said that he and George are working on a new sweet filled with love potion, but I don't think that it'll actually work. Love potions never work properly. But if necessary, you could try them on your cousin and that girl._

_Mum said that Dumbledore would visit us in three days and we might be able to convince him to let you live with us in August. Hopefully he'll agree! Your relatives are the smaller problem then._

_Bye, Ron_

Harry sighed heavily. He had already thought of the possibility of getting out of her way, but it hadn't worked too well. The girl followed him everywhere, even in his garden!

Hermione's letter had just arrived that morning with a postcard from Bulgaria. She'd visited Viktor Krum, and Harry knew Ron wouldn't be too happy about that. Harry didn't mind so much, if Hermione wanted to visit Krum he didn't see why she couldn't.

To Harry's horror, she told him to talk to Celina about his true feelings, whether they were to Celina's favour or not. She had to live with it and to respect his feelings. The later he talked with her, the harder it would be for him, so it would be better for him to do it as soon as possible.

She agreed with his opinion about the wandless magic. She wrote that he should practice and bring his power under control and master his talents. He was already working on it, because this ability could be very useful. Besides, it could be dangerous if he didn't practice. Who knew what he could accidentally do?

Well, so he had to talk to Celina. And Harry too thought that it would be better to talk to her immediately; in the long run he could end up with problems that, if he acted now, would be avoidable.

He walked out of the house and looked for the girl, and again, he heard some footsteps behind him.

"Hello?"

Harry turned around and saw a beautiful young woman with long, blonde hair and two huge trunks, a suitcase and a handbag on her shoulder, standing on the sidewalk. She looked quite normal except for her huge pink earrings. He thought that she couldn't be much older than himself, and at the same time he was annoyed that he was delayed in talking to Celina.

"Eh...yes?"

"Are you living here?" the woman wanted to know. Now he was in a fix. If he said no, she would know immediately that it was not the truth, but if he said yes and she was a Death Eater... But on the other hand, a Death Eater would never plan an attack in broad daylight and on a public street, would they?

"Yes..." he answered frowning.

The young woman smiled happily. "Then maybe you can tell me how to get to Wisteria Walk?" Now he recognised her American accent. "You know, I wanted to save the money, so I took the train, but now, I'm here, I have no idea how to get to Wisteria Walk. I should have taken a taxi..."

"No, it's not that far away," interrupted Harry. "But don't you need some help with your luggage? I could..."

"No, that's very kind of you, but I can handle them alone. If you just could explain the way for me..."

"Yeah, sure." So he told her where to go and wondered, why on earth she didn't get into a sweat, as she carried the heavy trunks as the sun was still shining brightly down. But he was very glad not to lose even more time by playing the porter for her. Eventually he had to find Celina and ditch her, although they had never been a couple...

"Um...Miss?" Actually Harry didn't know what he was going to do. The young woman turned around very gracefully with her luggage.

"Yes? What is it?"

"If you...if you like somebody and they didn't like you at all, what would you do then, when they told you?"

"Oh, I think at first I'd hide in my room and cry, and then I'd do everything to get him back." Harry swallowed, but then she smirked. "It's better if you make clear that she has no chance to get you. Good luck!"

She walked away, her handbag swinging dangerously on her shoulder.

"Harry!!!" He winced and turned around. Celina was running to him. "Harry, who was that..."

"No," he interrupted. "Celina, I-I'm not interested in you, so please stop running after me like a little dog, just leave me in peace. Goodbye." He turned around and set off back into the house.

"Harry, no, listen to me! It's not how you think it is!" She called after him.

But he didn't pay attention to her words, but went directly back into the house.

In the next few days Harry managed to keep away from Celina pretty well, and when they did meet, he moved away as fast as possible. She looked very sad when he turned away, and he did feel a bit sorry for her. He wondered what Celina could have meant with her last words. "It's not how you think it is..." What did she want to say?

When Harry went up to his room after escaping Celina, he found quite a few letters waiting for him.

Lupin had sent back the anonymous letter which Harry had given him to check it over. The small piece of paper looked a bit worn out, the ink looked darker than usual ink and the parchment was shimmering light blue.

Lupin had attached a letter from himself in which he mentioned that the letter had been charmed and could only be opened by Harry himself. (Funny learning it now, when he already had opened the letter...) He also wrote, that the parchment was okay, but nonetheless Harry should stay vigilant and not act without thinking. After he had put the letter aside, it enflamed itself and left nothing than a small heap of grey dust.

Ron wrote about some research experiments of the twins that had gone wrong and about Dumbledore allowing Harry to come to the Burrow. Of course the letters contained very few information – like in the previous summer –, but at least he _got _some letters.

Hermione didn't write some news at all as she still was with Viktor Krum in Bulgaria and she wouldn't return until the end of July. Her letters seemed happy and joyful; she wrote about things like _Today we visited Sofia, the capital city, and you know, when you're wandering through the shopping malls, you really don't think that you're in eastern Europe... _or _Have you got your OWL's yet? I'm dying waiting for them. What does it take them so long to evaluate the results of the exams?_

And, of course, there was the anonymous writer. Meanwhile Harry had found out some details about them: It was a girl writing the letters; no boy would have a handwriting like that and besides, she had betrayed herself because of small things, for instance she mentioned that she loved reading the romances by Terrina Murch. Which boy would admit that he read love stories? Harry had learned from Ron that Ginny often irritated him using quote from romantic novels by authors like Turrina Murch.

But all in all, Harry learned a lot about the life of the girl and he tried to write something about himself too – but never too much. He has taken Lupin's advice to heart. After all, you never know...

**_A/N:_**_ Um, hey, important question: Do you mind if I create a few more new people? I won't make them into main characters, but it would be fun playing with them..._

_And I'm s__orry, this has been a very short and lame chapter, but, well, I posted it very soon (whoa, only 32__ days after the last one ... I'm really improving #grins#), and you know this phenomenon, I had to finish here because the next chapter will be totally different and it wouldn't fit to this one because:_

**_Next Chapter:_**_ Some people will visit Cho, but no, Harry won't be one of them, you idiots, he doesn't know at all that his pen friend is a certain Ravenclaw female... AND we'll meet some other people... _

* * *


	6. Rain

**_Disclaimer: _**_See previous chapter. Except for a few new characters that will appear in this chapter for the first time. However, you'll know what I mean when you're reading this chapter._

**_Special Thanx: _**_to ER Monkey and Sheen Rox for doing beta-ing. _

**_Special Note: _**_From now on, not every chapter will have Harry in it. I'm afraid this one's the first. I'll only do it if it isn't possible to write a chapter different. You'll survive it ;-D_

**_Dedication: _**_I want to dedicate this chapter to two girls, both of them named Agnes. One of them is my cousin, the other one a great fanfiction author, and both are great muses to me. _

_Big, slobbery kisses to my few reviewers:_

**_Ferokeroberos:_**_ Hey, to shorten things is very useful, and even more useful as I know now what it means. #looks enlightened# Anyways, you asked you wondered what's going through my mind when I'm typing this fic. My answer: I don't really know myself. I've loads of ideas and don't know how to bring them all in... Or I just think of what the people in the radio are talking about... (Can't work without the radio running in the background...)_

**_Bloomz-baby:_**_ Of course I will post more! Much more! Enjoy the new chapter!_

**_Sheen Rox:_**_ Oh, my faithful Sheen Rox, I love your long reviews so much! #grins# And because of this you'll get a few extra information: This new woman (Anryn... she really exists, in a way, her real name's...whoops! I better don't tell ya! In the end she gets to read this and wants to strangle me...) will appear again on 31 July (Harry's birthday #grins#) and something really, really dreadful will happen on this day... And on the next few days, too... But it's going to happen to different persons and I'm not quite sure whether to post it (from the person's POV) or not. Whow, actually this were loads of unnecessary and confusing facts which won't help you in this chapter... Anyway, I loved your opinion about new characters, so enjoy this chapter!_

_Okay, three reviews for one chapter seems to be enough, but... Stop, stop, stop. New rule: You may give me flames, too, 'cause my hands are very, very cold..._

_On with the story! (And don't dare not to give me reviews!)_

==================================================

**Chapter 5**

**Rain**

==================================================

Cho would have loved to go out that afternoon, but it just wasn't possible because it had started to rain. So she went into her room and looked for something to do. She saw Harry's latest letter lying on her desk. She hadn't opened it yet because it had arrived shortly before lunch. She'd taken it from a wet Marron, who had flown outside again immediately, mad at her for being forced to run an errand in this horrible weather. Marron had been a gift for her 17th birthday.

Cho read Harry's letter, getting more and more confused. In his last letters, she had learned many small details about him, which he hadn't told her then. Well, they really hadn't had many possibilities to talk. Harry had seemed to be beginning to trust her. But this letter, which Marron had brought to her, was totally different from the ones before.

_Hey,_

_I think that I was very patient until now, but I'm not willing to continue this game any longer. Look at my situation. One part of the magical world worships me, they think that I'm kind of a hero because I caused You-Know-Who's 'fall' fifteen years ago. But the other part wants to see me dead. All the letters I've received... I don't get it. I know nothing of you, yet you seem to know everything of me. You could be my worst enemy, or at least some freaky kind of psychopath. So please become serious and tell me who you are or stop writing._

_Harry_

Cho was shocked; she had really liked writing those letters. She knew she would have told him who she really was some time, but the Death Eaters were very scary, so she hadn't dared it yet. Those guys were very impatient and didn't come to her home any more because Cho could always manage not to be at home alone. Therefore they had sent her letters with instructions, sealed with the Dark Mark in some black wax.

Cho had no choice but to obey them. They seemed to know everything about her and she was glad that the directions were only about things she should or should not mention in the letters to Harry.

She heaved a deep sigh, deciding to write another letter to Harry, but not mentioning her real identity. She took a piece of parchment, when suddenly the door opened and her little sister stormed in.

"Gwen! Haven't I told you to knock when you want to enter my room?" Cho shouted furiously. Gwen pulled faces at her.

"Mum said you should come and say good-bye to Uncle Simon and Aunt Lizzie. They're in the sitting room." She ran away without waiting for an answer.

Cho sighed again. She had forgotten that her Uncle Simon, the Auror, and his wife Elizabeth, wanted to go home again. They lived in the huge house near Lizzie's family, near Munich. Cho had only been there twice.

So, she went into the sitting room, where only her Uncle and her parents were.

"...no indications, but if they find out something new, they'll contact you. But I hardly think... Oh, Cho!" Uncle Simon smiled, Cho sat down beside him.

"Were you talking about Grandfather?" she asked.

"Yes, we don't have any news. They have already stopped the investigations," he answered sadly.

"Oh." Cho sounded disappointed, although she knew who really had caused the murder of her grandfather.

Her parents left for the kitchen and Cho was alone with the Auror.

"Cho...is there something you want to tell me?" he asked carefully.

Cho winced. Did her uncle know something? She had been sure that the Death Eaters had done their work properly. Now, how could he suspect something?

"Why do you ask?", she wanted to know.

"Well, you look so concerned since I have been here. Is it about a boy?" He really looked concerned.

Cho was getting uneasy. "What if?"

"Well, I'm not your father, but never forget that nobody has the right to hurt you and break your heart, do you understand? No-one ever has the right to hurt you, okay?"

Cho nearly told him everything. About Harry, about the Death Eaters, about her grandfather's death – he was Simon's father. She opened her mouth, but closed it quickly, when her mother came back. Cho turned back to her uncle and tried to smile. "I'm fine, Uncle Simon."

"Good." He smiled back at her, but in a way that said that he didn't really believe her.

Then Cho's father, Aunt Lizzie and Gwen entered the room.

"Come on, Simon," Aunt Lizzie said. "We have to go. We have been here much longer than we had planned it."

"Of course." Simon Chang stood up and they said good-bye to everybody. Then he Apparated with his wife back to Germany.

==================================================

A bit later Cho sat again in her room, her still blank parchment lying on her desk. She was deep in thought about what she should say to Harry. Eventually she decided to simply write whatever came to her mind. But she didn't write more than _'Hey Harry' _because her door was opened by Gwen again.

Cho turned around and scowled at her. "What?" she asked the eleven-year-old-girl. The sisters didn't look like real sisters. Both had black hair, but Cho looked exactly like her mother and Gwen like her father. Cho was petite and small; Gwen nearly was as tall as her father. Cho was rather shy and reserved; Gwen was animated and imprudent.

"Someone wants to visit you," the younger one of the Chang sisters said, before disappearing again. Two seconds later Cho's best friend Marietta Edgecombe entered her room.

"Hi, Cho! Merlin, you don't look good. Are you okay?" Marietta frowned and looked at her expectantly.

"Yeah, yeah!" Cho shouted and tried to hide her letter without being seen. But Marietta didn't miss a thing.

"Oi, what are you writing?" She reached out for the parchment and her eyes opened in awe. "Harry? Like in Harry Potter?"

"Well..." She blushed.

"And what about Michael Corner?" Marietta asked.

"Oh, we...we broke up n-nearly four weeks ago..." Cho stammered.

Marietta's jaw dropped down. "B-but you were the ideal couple! You looked so great together... Like you were meant for each other!"

"No, Marietta." Cho got furious. "You know perfectly well that isn't true. Michael and I, we are like day and night..."

Marietta smirked. "And what about you and Harry Potter?"

"Um..." Suddenly Cho didn't know any more what to say. If she was honest to herself, she didn't know what she felt for Harry. He was shy and clumsy, but he always tried to be nice and obliging. She liked him. But did she love him? If there hadn't been the thing with the Death Eaters, maybe she would have an answer to this question.

She used to think that she was in love with Cedric Diggory. Many had told her that they were a perfect match. Cedric had also been intelligent and clever, witty and nice, and they could talk about so many things, not only Quidditch and mad teachers. Yes, she had loved him in a way.

When she finally had kissed Harry, it was like being hit by a bolt and being split into two parts. On the one hand, she had had a bad conscience because she felt like she was cheating on Cedric. But on the other hand, it simply had felt _right. _But that had been long ago, and in the time since then Cho had become confused, torn between Harry and Cedric, she didn't know what to think any more. But there was one thing she was absolutely sure about.

"I like Harry. And you can't change that." Cho looked defiant.

"But Potter is _younger _than you are!" Marietta shouted.

"But Marietta, what kind of friend are you when you can't accept that?"

"Cho, listen to me! Potter is a madman! It even was in the newspapers! Potter thinks that You-Know-Wwho is back! That isn't true! You-Know-Who is dead! And everybody knows it! Potter just wants to cause a panic!"

"Ah-ha? And what does this have to do with me feelings for Harry? Or that he's younger than me? You have seen how bad we were in Defence Against the Dark Arts and what Harry had taught us."

"And you really think that we will need this knowledge some time? For instance, which secretary needs defence spells?" Marietta wanted to know.

"Well, as You-Know-Who is back, soon every single secretary will be in danger and be glad to know some defence spells!" Cho cried furiously.

"So you believe what Potter's saying?" Marietta asked quietly.

"Yes, of course."

Silence.

Eventually Cho changed the topic. "Marietta, why have you come to me? I mean, what did you want to tell me?"

"Oh, right," the girl said. "You know, my family has good connections to the Ministry of Magic. I was offered a fix job for next year – when I have finished Hogwarts. I thought that if you also want to begin in the ministry, then..."

"No," Cho cut in hastily. "No, that is very kind of you, but it's my dream to play Quidditch professionally, but I don't know yet if a team would be interested in me. Anyway, I'd easily get a post at the Daily Prophet. My father would help me in..."

They talked on, but not one of them said a word about Harry. Eventually Marietta had to go home again.

When Cho was alone again, she thought about her discussion with her best friend. A job at the ministry... Voldemort had been back a little while now. Cho knew it from experience and Harry had confirmed it too, although he didn't want to tell _her _how it had happened. The ministry had tried for half a year to keep it a secret and they had made Harry look an idiot. Well, the Daily Prophet published those fairy tales, but the publishing company was still in charge of the Ministry of Magic. Cho neither wanted to work at the M.O.M. nor at the Daily Prophet.

Eventually she reached for her quill, put it into the ink bottle and decided to be honest to Harry and to try not to give him even more worries to think about.

_Hey Harry,_

Merlin, I'm so sorry that I've been such a fool. What do you think of me now? Yes, I never should have started writing those anonymous letters. I'll tell you the truth about me. My name is Cho Chang, and I can understand it if you want to have nothing to do with me any more. I'm honest. But everything that I told you in my letters was the truth, and I did it because I still feel something for you.

_Cho_

Well, the letter was shorter than she had planned it, but at least it was a beginning. Now she only had to wait for Marron, who was outside in the rain, probably seeking shelter away from her, because she was still annoyed.

==================================================

It was still raining. Rachel could hear the fine drops falling against the window, knocking like small fingers against the glass. It got dark very early and the mist coming from the sea and covering the city like a veil made the whole world look creepy. But the atmosphere in the sitting room of the small house was cosy. Rachel Turner was lying on the soft carpet and reading her favourite book for the fifth time. But today she couldn't concentrate on the text. The rain disturbed her, and even the constant breath of her father, who was sitting on the sofa, reading today's newspapers, was a bit different than on other days.

Eventually she stood up, putting the book on the desk and walking to the window. She looked out and in some distance she could see a figure standing in the darkness. The figure wore a black coat and a strange hat on their head. And they were watching the house. Rachel was sure, as she could see the bright spot marking their face, but fog and rain didn't let her see details. The figure stood stock-still.

"Dad? Dad, come here, quick!" Rachel whispered without turning around.

Her father ran his hand through his jet-black hair, folding the newspaper. "What is it, Rachel?"

The girl turned around, hazel eyes meeting hazel ones. Rachel had often been told that she was the spitting image of her mother, only her eyes were her father's. In this moment her widened eyes looked frightened. "Look out there, there's somebody."

He went to the window and together they looked out and saw...no-one.

"Nobody's out there, love", her father reassured her.

"But-" She was sure that she had seen somebody. Suddenly the doorbell rang, Rachel winced.

"Jake?" It was Rachel's mother calling from the kitchen. "Who is this? We aren't waiting for somebody, are we?"

"No...I'll get it," he said and left for the front door. Her daughter followed him.

He opened the door slowly, letting in air that smelled like rain. It was completely dark outside, at first Rachel couldn't see who was standing in front doorway. As the stranger stepped through the door, some light floated through between Rachel and her father and the girl shrieked. It was a man in black robes, with a pointed hat on his head. He came directly out of the rain and was...dry. Not a single drop of water was to be seen on his clothes.

"Dad! This is the man who was watching our house!" Rachel shouted, alerted.

Her mother hurried out of the kitchen, her hands were wet, carrying a damp tea towel. "What has happened? Why did you yell, Rachel?" She also got a glimpse of the visitor and stopped irritated. "Jake...?"

Rachel's father turned to the stranger and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"It's unusually cold outside for the end of July, don't you think?" It was a woman speaking, and as Rachel looked a bit closer, she really saw that this couldn't be a man. "I am Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, and I'm the substitute teacher for Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mr. and Mrs. Turner, it's a pleasure for me to inform you that your daughter Rachel has been accepted."

For an instance nobody said a word. Then Rachel's father cleared his throat. "Did you just say School for Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

"Yes, I did," the woman replied happily. Jake dropped his newspaper which he had still been holding in his hand. "Look, I've got the official letters here, including the booklist etc..." She looked in her robes for an envelope and handed it to Rachel's father. "You know, Mr. Turner-"

But Rachel's father cut in. "No, my name is Preston. Jake Preston. Agnes...," he pointed at Rachel's mother, "...and I aren't married." He ran his hand through his hair. Rachel knew that this was a sure sign that he was preoccupied. Then he opened the letters, eyeing the professor questioningly. She smiled in agreement, so he unfolded the pieces of parchment.

"Dad? Mum? What's in there?" Rachel wanted to know. Jake and Agnes read the letter with their heads put together, then they handed it to their daughter.

"Our daughter is a...witch?" Agnes asked, her voice shaking.

"Yes, yes, of course! You know, it's quite frequently that young witches and wizards are from a Muggle family..."

"Muggle?" Rachel cut in.

"Yes, Muggle." The professor smiled at her. "This is the non-magical community. People who don't have magical abilities. Like your parents, I suppose?"

"No, we don't have any...magical abilities," Agnes said.

"No, no...," Jake murmured quietly, running his hand again through his hair. He exchanged glances with Agnes, then shook his head and looked back at the professor.

"And you're also...?" he asked.

"Yes, yes, of course! I'm sorry, I'm doing this for the first time, I'm just the substitute, but yes, I'm a witch. We bring the first years from Muggle families their letters in person, just in case you have questions, and you do have some, don't you? Of course I can show you some things your daughter will learn, for instance simple levitating charms and so on. But why don't we sit down at first?"

Professor Grubbly-Plank had answered all of their questions. She had levitated a vase and conjured up flowers, putting them into the china. Now the sitting room smelled a bit like a flower shop. Rachel got more and more euphoric of being something special, and she was happy from the idea of learning how to do such wonderful things herself. Her parents had discussed for a few minutes, but eventually they had agreed.

Jake had been asleep for a long time, but Agnes was still awake, thinking about a certain part of the conversation with the professor. She had been talking about the use of a wand. Agnes had felt rather uncomfortably because she had a little secret, lying in a box on the attic, together with a few other things she had received on an evening in November nearly 15 years ago. She was thinking about it until she drifted off into sleep.

A little later Jake woke up. He had had a very confusing dream about a creepy green light, which he knew was not a dream but rather a memory. And a strange feeling remained; a feeling of happiness and worry at the same time. He thought that once he must have experienced this green light and those feelings, but he knew that it hadn't happened; he really didn't know when it should have happened.

He had a scar on his chest, which was the only thing that had remained from an accident nearly 15 years ago. In this night his scar tingled a little. He had never felt it tingle, but he was too concerned about his dream so he ignored his scar. Eventually he drifted back into sleep.

TBC.

==================================================

**A/N:** This was the end for today. Hehe, have I mentioned that I love suspension? And hey, don't complain, this even isn't a real cliffie! This was all about Rachel for now, we'll meet her again on 1 September. I just had to put this in here. Anyway, everything in this chapter happened on 30 July 1996, so I think you know what will happen in Chapter 6, don't you? . Extra-long chapter will come in a few days, I promise!

_PLEASE REVIEW! _


	7. A Bunch of Letters

**Disclaimer: **See previous chapter. Or in other words: Most of the characters belong to J.K.R., only a few other ones belong to me!

**A/N: **Eventually I managed to post Chapter 6 of this fanfic. I hope you don't kill me for taking so long... I know, the prologue was posted back in March and now it's September, but hey, I promised not to let this fic unfinished, so here's the new chappie. But first, review responses...

**Ferokeroberos: **Thanks for your suggestion for this certain sentence. I never liked adverbs (as in German we don't have them... Wait, we do have them, but they are exactly like adjectives...) but I'll change it. I promise. And about Rachel... hmm... I really like her and for the time being I won't say more... Only that Harry will like her too. Lol. Maybe – but only maybe – she'll appear again before she's off to Hogwarts, dunno yet. But you may hope!

**FSI: **Thanks, if I need Chinese names, I'll take one of yours, but I didn't intend to introduce more Asian people and the ones we know (like Cho's mother) have already got a name.

**Sheen Rox: **Hey, you privileged one, I think you already got enough extra information, and we don't want to confuse the other readers, do we?

**HoshiHikari4ever: **I'm sorry to disappoint you, more about Rachel on 1st September, MAYBE I'll put her in before, but only MAYBE. And about Jake, I think we won't hear from him for a long time now... He doesn't have much to do for the plot now.

**eLmOs WoRlD828: **Hey, here's your update! Enjoy!

**marshmallow-orc: **If you don't know it yet, I like suspense! Lol. Enjoy the new chapter with even more suspense!

**Special Thanks: **as always to Sheen Rox and ER Monkey for doing beta-ing! #gives you cookies#

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**A Bunch of Letters**

* * *

Actually, Harry was still asleep, but his mind was already awakening, remembering what day it was today: Wednesday, 31 July, Harry's 16th birthday. He opened his eyes and noticed that it was still raining lightly outside, but a few owls sat outside his window.

He opened it and let the birds fly in. There were more than Harry had first guessed, and he was happy that his friends hadn't forgotten him. He took the letters and small parcels and was amazed that he had received several letters from Hogwarts.

Harry got birthday cards from most of the Gryffindors in his year, from Luna Lovegood and also from Hagrid and Remus Lupin. They had attached some small gifts, like sweets or in Hagrid's case, stony cookies.

Then he took the official looking letters from Hogwarts, which were sealed with the Hogwarts crest. He opened the first one, and while he was reading, a smile appeared on his face.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_I am pleased to inform you that with this letter your prohibition of playing Quidditch at Hogwarts is abolished. This means that I am awaiting you to play in the following school year as the seeker again, and to make your contribution to lead Gryffindor to the victory and to win the Quidditch Cup in fair games._

_Besides, I wish you a happy birthday. _

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Harry could have jumped up and down in his room, but he didn't do it because he didn't want to wake up the Dursleys. So he grinned mischievously, feeling utterly joyful and delighted.

Then he took the next letter. It was just the usual message that the new school year begins on 1st September. A booklist was enclosed, and as Harry read the titles of the three new books he needed, he noticed that not one of them had something to do with Defence Against the Dark Arts. _Why this? _he asked himself. _Does this mean that Dumbledore hadn't found somebody to teach DADA this year?_

When Harry opened the next letter from Hogwarts, he knew immediately what it had to be about. The results of his OWL tests. And he was right. First he read over the text without memorising anything, because the large letters in the middle of the document caught his attention.

Harry James Potter, born on 31st July 1980, has reached the 10th Ordinary Wizarding Level.

He couldn't believe it. Never ever he had believed in such an incredible result. The best of all would be the 12th OWL, and to reach it you had to be really, really good.

Slowly his gaze drifted downwards. In Defence Against the Dark Arts he had reached an Outstanding of course, as well as in Transfiguration, Charms and... Potions? Yeah, he really had an Outstanding in Potions. Harry really couldn't believe it. His lips tucked into a smile of triumph.

"I knew it, I'm not the loser Snape wants me to be!" he whispered into his quiet room. He knew very well that Snape only continued teaching those students who had an Outstanding in Potions. And Potions was really important to him, because he needed it to become an Auror.

This birthday couldn't be better, could it?

Finally he turned to the fourth and final Hogwarts letter and his smile faded again.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_On 1st September after the opening feast I'm going to be awaiting you in my office because I have to discuss some important matters with you. Parchment is very patient, though I think that it will be better for you and for me to explain you my plans in person._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S.: Have a nice day, Harry! Happy birthday!_

Strange, really strange. What did Dumbledore have to tell him that couldn't be explained in a letter, but wait until the 1st September instead? Harry shook his head to get rid of this thought, as a tiny owl was still flying around in his room: Pigwidgeon with a message from Ron. After some attempts Harry eventually managed to untie the letter from Ron's owl.

_Hello Harry,_

_First, Happy Birthday! I think I'll have the chance to congratulate you in person. You will come to Mrs. Figg's this afternoon, won't you? Nearly everyone of my family will be coming, as well as Hermione, and we'll celebrate with a little birthday party for you. I'm telling you now because – hopefully! – you can get away from the Dursleys. And we have another surprise for you, but I'll tell you later._

_Cheers,_

_Ron_

Birthday party. Harry couldn't believe it. Today he would have his first birthday party ever, his best friends would be there... Now he only had to escape the Dursleys for a few hours to be present at his party. At _his _party.

He spent the whole morning in some kind of a 'floating condition', everything seemed to be wonderful to him. Today he only had to do the dusting in the house, Dudley still avoided him and eventually the cute chestnut coloured owl knocked against his window. Until now Marron had only brought anonymous letters, except for this one.

Harry read the letter several times and was simply amazed. Cho Chang, the first girl he had ever fallen in love with and with who he was still in love was still interested in him. He didn't think long about it – for he would be way too lucky today – but wrote his response. Instinctively he knew what he wanted to write and found the right words immediately.

_Cho,_

_I don't know what to say. Why didn't you tell me that it was you who wrote all those letters? I'm just astonished._

_You say that you love me. Is it true? I'm so sorry for breaking up, I was an idiot. On Valentine's Day I was just so happy, because you were with me and I was hardly able to think straight. So I messed everything up. I'm so sorry._

_Would you give me a second chance? Would you give us a second chance? Would you be my girlfriend again?_

_Harry_

So poor Marron had to fly back again and left Harry, being all excited and anxious. Would Cho want to be with him again?

* * *

In the early afternoon Harry felt as happy as ever before. He just had to change his clothes and sneak out of the house, before Aunt Petunia could give him some work to do. Uncle Vernon was still at Grunning's.

Harry searched in his clothes for something appropriate to wear. Eventually he decided to put on the black trousers of his school uniform and a polo shirt that wasn't too worn out. He couldn't do anything with his messy, black hair, but he was used to it.

Suddenly Marron returned with an answer from Cho. Harry was pleased to see her again, taking the sheet from her, putting Hedwig's water container in front of her. Hedwig scowled at him and hid in a far corner of the room.

"Here, Marron, relax a bit. I won't send you out again today, this means you can stay here, if you like. And now I know who you belong to."

He patted her head and she cooed. Harry thought that he could see gratitude in her eyes. Eventually he opened Cho's latest letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_You have no idea how relieved I was when Marron returned with an answer from you. Thank you. I'd love to be with you again, so… is it official? Are you my boyfriend?_

_Yours, Cho_

Harry took a new piece of parchment and a quill, scribbling hastily an answer. He had to hurry because he had to get to a birthday party.

_Dear Cho,_

_Yes, you are my girlfriend, and I'm your boyfriend. If you want it. But you said you love me, so I reckon that you do want it. However, it feels a bit strange to have this certainty when we haven't seen each other for so many weeks. I'd love to meet with you, but I'm afraid I won't have the chance to get away from Little Whinging. I'll talk to you later!_

_Harry_

He was quite confident with his letter and looked after Hedwig. She was still sitting in a corner, having her head put under her wing.

"Hedwig, would you please deliver a letter for me?" he asked carefully.

The barn owl didn't move an inch. She was still jealous of Marron.

"Please, Hedwig, I need you!" Harry said theatrically.

Hedwig moved a bit, Harry continued. "You do know that you're the only owl for me, don't you? No-one could replace you ever, Hedwig."

Eventually she flew to him and stretched her leg slowly and reluctantly. Harry fastened the letter and patted her head for a long time.

"Find Cho Chang and take my letter to her, will you, Hedwig?"

She cooed loudly, turning around, flying out of the window. Harry smiled and stood up to go to Mrs. Figg's, to his birthday party.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry to stop here, please review, then you'll get the next chapter very soon! (Okay, within the next month...)


	8. Parties and other Surprises

**Disclaimer** Nothing is mine, you know? I think you do. However, this story is now an alternate universe. Book 6 doesn't exist here.

**A/N: **I know it has been a very long time and I don't really have an explanation for this. I hope that I still have some readers. Please tell me that you still exist! Give me reviews for this extra-long chapter! It's probably the longest chap in this story, so enjoy it!

**Special thanks: **

I have to say thank you to two great girls. Those are

**Sheen Rox, **my co-writer, who will continue this fic because I'm too lazy for that. If you didn't exist, this story would probably never be completed! (And this sentence is probably grammatically as wrong as it can only be, but I think you know what I want to say...) _hugs and kisses_

**ERMonkey, **my dear friend and beta who always listens to my silly little problems. Don't fear the cold, in summer you'll wish for it!

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 07**

**Parties and Other Surprises**

* * *

Harry was on his way to Mrs. Figg's. He escaped the Dursleys without being seen and didn't meet anybody outside their houses – not even Celina – while hurrying along the street.

When he turned around the corner, he nearly bumped into a strange figure. A man in scruffy wizard's robes stepped out of some bushes and Harry could only see a few rusty-red hairs under his hood. The guy took his hood down and grinned widely at Harry.

"'Ello, 'Arry!" Mundungus Fletcher said. Harry let out the anxious breath he'd been holding with relief and smiled at the familiar face.

"Hi, Mundungus, I nearly thought that you were some Death Eater and you were just about to kidnap me." Deep inside Harry wondered whether he suffered paranoia or was just becoming mad.

"Nay, but that's exactly why Dumbledore suggested I should accompany you to Figgy. We don't want you to be kidnapped by some filthy Death Eater, do we?" He laughed at his own joke, which Harry privately didn't think was particularly funny.

"What? Does this mean that you're the only one watching me?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling nervous again.

"Nonsense," Mundungus said with a snort, "I just have to escort you in public. The others are simply hidden" He bent down to whisper in Harry's ear. "You see that hydrant over there, yeah? Tonks is hiding behind it."

Harry nodded feeling slight better, although he didn't spot anybody. "Erm, Mundungus, why are you walking around in wizard's robes? Doesn't it make you look very suspicious to muggles?"

"Oh, they always ignore me, 'Arry, don't worry," he said blinking. "But we should hurry up. Figgy will kill me for sure if she ever learns that we've stood chatting on the open road."

The two of them continued their way down the road and soon reached Mrs. Figg's house. It seemed to be the same as it always had been, and if Mundungus hadn't walked him through the door, which wasn't locked, he would have thought that nobody was at home.

He was wrong. Mrs. Figg hurried through her kitchen and did the last preparations.

"'Ello, Bella, we're here!" Mundungus yelled, his barking voice echoing through the house.

"I hear you! I'm not deaf yet! But if I do turn deaf, it'll only be because of your yelling! Then I'll definitely strangle you." The old lady retorted, snappily.

"Hi, Mrs. Figg," Harry said, stepping into the kitchen, noticing straight away the absence of the strong smell of Mrs Figg's many cats.

"Oh, Harry! Good to see you! Actually we didn't think you'd come so early, but the Weasley's should be here soon... Happy birthday, Harry!" Mrs. Figg pulled him into a bone-breaking hug that no one would have imagined the old lady could do.

"Thank you, Mrs. Figg." Harry mumbled embarrassed.

When she finally released him from her hug, she wanted him to sit down in an armchair in the living room. She hurried back into the kitchen, preparing everything. Mundungus took a seat next to Harry.

"'Ey, 'Arry, I also wish you a happy birthday, kid. So tell me, how old are you now?" He asked, scratching his head.

"Sixteen," Harry said, watching the man closely who was lost in his own thoughts.

"Sixteen, hmm... a good age, kid, hmm... You know what? You can have this from me." He pulled a strange, black object out of his robes and gave it to him.

Harry took it gratefully but puzzled. "Thank you, but... what is this thing?"

"This is a folding-up cauldron, kid." He said emphatically. "I've still got a dozen of them, you can have this one." Mundungus grinned as Harry inspected the cauldron.

"Smuggled goods?" He asked curiously.

Mundungus wanted to reply, but he was stopped by Mrs. Figg who threw something against his head. "No word about smuggled goods in my house!" She barked, looking madly at Mundungus.

Fletcher howled in pain, rubbing his head, and grabbing the item. "You threw a rolling pin at me? A _wooden _rolling pin?" He complained.

"Well, at least you know what this thing was! Mind you that's probably only because you've dealt with them on the black market, huh?"

Mundungus sniffed as if offended. Harry thought that the situation was quite amusing, and stifled a laugh.

The crackling of the fireplace soon stopped their quarrelling and with three loud "POPS" Mrs. Weasley, Fred, and George apparated into the sitting room and Ron appeared in the fireplace.

"Hi, Harry! You're already here?" Ron commented, brushing ash off of his trousers.

"Harry, nice to see you!" Mrs. Weasley said, hurrying towards him and enveloping him in a warm embrace.

"Aloha, Harry!" the twins said in unison. The two of them had a nice tanned colour to their skin and wore ridiculous looking sunglasses.

"Hey, guys!" Harry said grinning.

Another crackle came from the fireplace, announced Ginny's arrival.

She fell out of the fireplace, looking nearly as tanned as the twins. She looked exotic with her flaming red hair, dressed in a flowing, navy blue dress.

"Oh, hi." She said. "You're here, Harry!" She looked to Ron nervously, who only shrugged.

Some more crackling of the fireplace and somebody falling out onto the hearth broke the awkward silence that followed. It was... Neville.

He fell onto his hands and knees, but stood up immediately, seemingly embarrassed by his clumsiness, he awkwardly brushed the ashes off his shoulders and smiling sheepishly at Mrs. Figg because of the mess he'd spread over her carpet.

"Neville, you're here too?" Harry asked in astonishment. "I didn't know anything about this!"

"Oh well, it was a spontaneous decision, you know? If I'm bothering..."

"No! Not at all! Hi Neville!" Harry said, making the round-faced boy smile appreciatively.

"Come with me for a short moment." Mrs. Figg said to Fred and George. "I need two strong men in order to help me."

Fred and George exchanged worried looks, but followed her into the kitchen after receiving a look from their mother.

Suddenly two more loud "POPS" could be heard followed by the appearance of Mr. Weasley and Charlie in the sitting room.

"Hello, Harry!" Mr. Weasley said, shaking his hand kindly.

"Hello, Mr. Weasley. It's good to see you. Er... Where's Hermione?" He asked, confused.

"Oh..." Mrs. Weasley sighed. She looked at her husband.

"Well..." Mr. Weasley began, biting his lip. "She has not arrived at the Burrow..."

Suddenly Harry heard the front door open and close itself. Somebody had entered the house. That must be Hermione! Harry thought optimistically. She came right here instead of first going to the Burrow!

"Grandma, I'm back!" a female voice from the hallway called. It wasn't Hermione's voice. A young woman with long, blonde hair and huge pink earrings entered the living room. She carried two bags full to bursting with things she had brought, smiling all over her face.

"Ah, you've got to be the Weasley family! I hurried so much to be at home before you arrive, but..." She smiled around at the Weasley's until her eyes came to rest on Harry. "Oh, Harry, we already know each other, don't we?"

Harry was confused. What had happened to Hermione? And who was this strange woman who claimed to know him? He looked in Ron's direction. He seemed to be as confused as he himself, though he seemed to know something Harry didn't about the situation.

"You know each other, Harry?" Charlie asked interested.

"Er, well..." Harry couldn't really say that he knew this woman. He didn't even know her name!

Meanwhile she had put down her bags and shook Charlie's hand. "I'm Anryn Hell, I'm Arabella Figg's granddaughter, and a witch."

"And from the United States." Charlie noticed her accent with mild surprise.

"That's true, but I think that since I've been here, I've adjusted myself a bit and you don't hear my accent too clearly any more..."

"I hear things like that easily, you know, I'm working in Romania. I've heard the strangest accents..." Charlie said still smiling brightly at the pretty young witch.

Arthur cleared his throat loudly. Charlie turned crimson and finally released Anryn's hand. Ron, Neville, Ginny and Harry grinned; Molly's expression seemed scornful and displeased.

"So what's up with Hermione?" Harry asked, quickly changing the subject. "You said that she didn't arrive at the Burrow. What's that supposed to mean?"

"We planned for Hermione to come straight from Bulgaria to England by plane. At the airport she was supposed to take the Knight Bus to the Burrow, so that we could come here by floo later." Mr. Weasley explained hesitantly. "But..."

Harry feared the worst. "Death Eaters?"

Mr. Weasley sighed heavily. "I don't know, Harry, I just don't know."

"Her plane had to make a forced landing near Paris." Charlie said. "But we haven't heard anything else. We're sure that she entered the plane in Sofia but there were problems in the cockpit of the plane. The ministry of magic won't let any information through though. They have enough problems with the attacks of the death eaters... without adding to the pressure."

"What!" Ron and Ginny shouted outraged that this new information had nt been shared with them. Charlie ignored them.

"However, the muggles are examining some thing called Black Box. This has to be in every plane and it saves any telephone calls and things like that. A few people from the French ministry are taking care of that. But it'll take a while for any information to reach England..."

"Bill has gone to Paris," said Mrs. Weasley. "He met Fleur there and the two of them are for searching Hermione and anyone else from the plane right now."

Harry nodded. It seemed to be logical that Bill and his girlfriend should be sent to look for Hermione, as they were familiar with Paris. The Delacours were a Parisian wizard family, Bill and Fleur had been a couple for a long time now, they were both strong wizards and they would make a good team.

"This all because of me." Harry said despondently.

"What?" They all looked at Harry confused.

"Just think about it!" He said, anger toward himself in his voice. "Hermione is a friend of mine, so she's an ideal target for Voldemort!" Upon stating his name, everyone winced. As usual.

For a short time, nobody said a word. Then Mrs. Weasley heaved a deep sigh. "Harry, it is not sure, if the forced landing was caused by death eaters or a problem in the muggle's techniques. And now stop it. Bill is doing his best in France, and here we've got to celebrate someone's birthday!"

* * *

"...For he's a jolly good fellow, and so say all of us!"

The party guests sang and cheered loudly. Harry thought that it sounded like a football stadium full of fan cheering a goal; maybe it was because there were only four women trying to be heard over seven men singing with all of their lung's forces (especially the twins). Still, it was the best birthday that Harry could recall.

The guests clapped their hands and eventually Ron shouted enthusiastically:

"Go, Harry, blow out the candles!"

"Yeah," Ginny yelled. "You've got to wish for something!"

So Harry breathed in deeply, blew out all the sixteen candles at once, gaining loud applause from the Weasleys and the Figgs.

"Now open your gifts!" Somebody said and Harry started unpacking every single one of the presents, while Mrs. Weasley handed out birthday cake for everyone.

From Ron he got new knee pads for Quidditch ("I'm sure that McGonagall will allow you to keep playing, Harry. Now that Fred, George, and the three girls have graduated, you're the only experienced Gryffindor!"), Neville gave him a book about defensive magic ("If you promise to tutor me again in DADA..."), from Ginny he got owl treats and self-made cookies ("I wanted to give you something useful and this was the only thing I could think of. Sorry. I hope you like it nonetheless."), Fred and George gave him a huge box full of charmed sweets ("We've added some new inventions." – "Yeah. If you aren't sure what they're good for, try them on Ron!"). Finally from Charlie he got a textbook about dragons ("This is from Bill and me. Bill wanted to give you a book about Egypt, but I said that you would probably be happier about this one.").

"Here, Harry, this is from Grandma and me," Anryn said, handing him another gift.

"Thanks, Miss Hell." Harry said, starting to unwrap it.

"No need to call me like that. I'm hardly older than you. Call me Anryn." She grinned.

"Okay, thanks Anryn" Harry answered, studying the title of the book carefully. "_An Expert's Guide to Legilimens"._

"I thought you might find this interesting, it's quite rare and I hear you know something about the skill." Anryn said with a voice full of secrets and a glimmer in her eyes.

"Harry," Mrs. Weasley said to him, "we know that you don't really enjoy living with those muggles. Well, we did everything that was possible, and Dumbledore agreed we should get you to the Burrow tomorrow, for the rest of the holidays."

"Really?" Harry's eyes shone with happiness.

"Yeah" Ron said. "We'll pick you up at 10 AM, won't we, dad?"

"Yes, Ron. Harry, we'll come here tomorrow to pick you up." He confirmed.

"That's wonderful! Thank you so much, Mr. Weasley!" Harry said joyfully.

As it became later, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville found some time to talk about certain things.

"Well, boys, what about your OWLs?" Ginny asked.

"I've got the seventh OWL!" Neville grinned happily. "This means that later I can take up whichever career I want!"

"Cool" said Ron. "I even made the ninth OWL!"

"And I the tenth," Harry added grinning. "You all did get an Outstanding in DADA, didn't you?"

"Of course!" Ron replied vigorously. "We've had the best teacher ever!" Neville nodded enthusiastically.

"And what about Potions?" he asked. "I've got an Outstanding! I really did it! Now I can even become botanist or pharmacist!"

"But do you really need an Outstanding in Potions?" Ron asked interested.

"Yeah, and I've got to be good at Herbology," he answered. "Uh, why are you asking, Ron? You've never shown much interest in Herbology. You wanted to become Auror or something, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did." Ron seemed to be resigned.

"So?" Harry asked.

"I can't."

"Why?" Neville and Harry asked in unison. Ron turned crimson.

"He's only got an E in potions," Ginny answered sympathetically.

"But an Exceeds Expectations isn't bad." Neville said defensively.

"True, but Snape only keeps on teaching those who got an O. And if I want to become an Auror, I'll need Potions, you see?" He sighed. "But wait, Harry, tell me, did you get it?"

"Did I get what?" Harry asked stupidly. He didn't want to tell Ron that he would become an Auror unlike his best friend.

"The O in Potions?" Ron said impatiently.

"Well..." Harry began, feeling like he was betraying Ron in some way.

"He did it!" Ginny squealed. Ron's expression turned dark, but only for a split second, he knew he should really be happy for Harry and smiled supportively.

"Hermione's surely got an O in Potions too" Neville said all of a sudden. "What do you think, how many OWLs did she get? 11? Maybe even 12?"

All of them became silent. Eventually Harry asked, "What about Hermione now? She was in Bulgaria, wasn't she?"

Ron examined his feet, still being jealous of Viktor Krum. Ginny answered for him. "The airport in Sofia says that she entered the plane. Then there was some incident so that the plane had to do a forced landing in Paris. From that time on we know nothing about her whereabouts."

"I'm sure that this Krum is a Death Eater and revealed her whereabouts to V-Voldemort so that he can get her." Ron stuttered. Neville, Ginny and Harry winced. Neville and Ginny, because he said HIS name, and Harry because of Ron's way of talking. It was obvious that Ron hated Krum with all his heart but not because he thought he was a death eater.

Nobody answered, but Fred and George saved the situation. They came back from the kitchen with old Mrs. Figg and headed to the small group immediately.

"Hey, guys, you look so depressed!" Fred stated in an oddly cheerful voice considering what they had been talking about.

"Cheering-up candy?" George asked, pulling out a handful of sweets from his pocket.

"No, thanks" Ginny said warily.

"How's business going?" Harry asked, George and Fred grinned at each other.

"Very good, dearest Harry" they answered in unison, dragging him away from the others.

"As you helped us so kindly, you will receive loads of extra info from us, Harry" Fred whispered, George nodded enthusiastically. "Well, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley is a real success."

"Yeah, and a short time ago Zonko called on us in person, because he wants to sell our articles in his shop too!" George whispered.

"But the best is still about to come" Fred said.

"Yeah, you won't believe it, but Dumbledore's one of our best clients!"

"What?" Harry asked astonished.

"Sssshhhhh! Be quiet, this is absolutely secretive! Only Dumbledore and a few certain people know about it, not including our mother!"

"And we don't want her to find out." Fred added glancing nervously in Mrs Weasley's direction.

"What? That Dumbledore buys sweets?" Harry asked confused.

"No... no..." the twins said quickly but were cut off by:

"What are you whispering about?" came Ginny's voice from behind their backs.

"Huh, Ginny, damn! What's that supposed to mean? Are you eavesdropping on us?" Fred asked accusingly.

"No, I just want to know what you have to talk about so secretively!"

"Well, if it weren't so secretly, you would know the secret and it wouldn't be one any more, would it, Harry?" George said.

"Sure" Harry said, looking apologetically at Ginny. She watched them furiously for a moment, and then walked back to Ron and Neville.

"Well" George whispered. "Dumbledore doesn't buy these sweets for himself."

Harry was confused, the twins grinned.

"He orders the sweets for the Order of the Phoenix!" George was talking so quietly now that Harry nearly had to read it from his lips. "This means that every now and then we get info that not even mum or dad know about!"

"Cool" Harry had to admit it. "But what can the Order do with canary creams?"

"Oh, they aren't interested in canary cream at all," Fred winked. "Dumbledore is interested in our latest inventions, they can be pretty useful when fighting against Death Eaters!"

"Really?" Harry said doubtfully.

"Oh yeah", George said. "Some of our less dangerous inventions are in the box you got from us. You can tell our latest sweets which flavour they should get. You can choose chocolate, strawberry and pumpkin; if you don't choose anything, they taste awfully, but they work nonetheless. You'll be as light as a feather for full 15 minutes. This means that you can walk without making any noise, as you don't weigh anything. That's nearly as good as an invisibility cloak." he said proudly.

"Exactly" Fred added. "And it was Dumbledore who told us to produce this stuff. If somebody searches your pockets, the sweets don't attract any attention, but if you carry a phial with light-as-a-feather-potion with you..."

"...you would be highly suspicious," Harry completed for him.

The twins grinned, "But not a single word to anybody who isn't supposed to know, okay?"

Harry nodded. He was looking forward to try the twins' new sweets. Altogether they went back to Ron, Ginny and Neville. They were talking about Mrs. Figg's granddaughter.

"...looks beautiful", Neville said with dreamy eyes. "What do you guess? How old is she?"

"Hmm…around Charlie's age," Ginny guessed, looking to Anryn and Charlie who were talking animatedly with each other.

"By the way, Fred and George, what did you do with Mrs. Figg in the kitchen?" Ron asked all of a sudden.

"Yeah, I want to know it too!" Ginny admitted.

"She needed help with her tin-opener" George answered promptly.

"Yeah, her cats need some food" Fred added.

"Haven't seen any cats here yet" said Neville.

"Right! Mrs. Figg's always had a lot of them!" Harry stated.

"She locked them out" Fred replied. "She said that because there are so many guests, she doesn't want to have them in here."

"What were you talking about? Charlie's new girl?" George wanted to know.

"You mean Anryn?" Ron asked grinning cheekily.

"Yeah, she's got a creepy name, huh?" George said. "Hell... Is she supposed to come from there, being Lucifer's daughter or something like that?"

"Hey, I heard that!" came an angel-like voice from behind his back.

George turned crimson. "I'm right, aren't I?" he said laughing.

"No, you're not" she said smiling. "My dad's from Germany, and hell means bright. He married a woman from England, my mom, and when I turned 2, we left England and went to Chicago, because my parents didn't want to raise me in a country full of war. You know, the Dark Lord terrorised Great Britain then..."

"So your parents were pretty prudent", Fred said.

"They were." Anryn smiled. "I finished my Auror training a short time ago. I wanted to visit my grandma again, you know, it's been a while. But I think I'll stay here. I've even found a job..."

"Er, Anryn?" Charlie asked, approaching the group.

"Yes, Charlie?" She smiled broadly at him.

"My dad and Mundungus want to talk with you," he said.

"Okay" She hurried to the two men.

"Why do they want to talk with her?" Ron asked his elder brother.

"Um" Charlie seemed unsure about whether or not to say anything, "Okay, I'll tell you."

He told them that Anryn wanted to support the Order of the Phoenix. But the Order wasn't sure yet whether to accept her or not. She had to prove first that she didn't support the Dark Lord.

Finally Mrs. Weasley came through the door, carrying a large tray full of snacks.

In the end Harry could tell that this had been his best birthday so far. Mrs. Figg hadn't allowed them to turn on loud music, and Harry worried a lot about Hermione (and he could tell that the others and especially Ron were feeling the same), but he didn't have to sit alone in his room in Privet Drive. He was looking forward to the rest of the holidays, which he would spend in the Burrow. And he was looking forward to receiving a new letter from Cho... his girlfriend...

Harry didn't realise that darkness had fallen. Finally Arthur Weasley laid his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Come on, Harry, we should go now."

"But dad!" Ron objected. "It's way too early!"

"Ron, we don't want anybody to know that there's been a party in here" Arthur said.

"Yeah, like the Dursley's... or Death Eaters..." Ron mumbled regretfully.

"Exactly."

Harry said good-bye to everyone and gathered up all his gifts.

"We'll pick you up at 10 AM, Harry" Ron reminded him as he was leaving.

"Fine, I can't wait for it. Bye!" Harry said, walking to Anryn, Mundungus, Charlie and Arthur, who were waiting for him to accompany him home.

* * *

Harry managed to arrive in Number 4 before dinner, so the Dursley's left him in peace.

Later that evening he lay in his bed and thought about the afternoon.

Of course he had been glad to see his friends again. He missed his best friend, Hermione, and worried about her, as she hadn't been at his party and seemed to be lost. But it had felt great to see Ron, Neville and Ginny again. Of course he would have been even happier if Cho could have come to Mrs. Figg's.

He realised that not a single word about Sirius had been spoken. Of course a discussion about Sirius' death would have cast a shadow over Harry's birthday, but if he was honest, he wanted to talk about it! He hadn't had a possibility to do this back at school and the only ones who were close enough to him to understand his situation, were Ron and Hermione.

_I'm glad to be going to the Burrow tomorrow, _Harry thought. _I'll be able to talk about it with Ron and Hermione there. Assuming everything goes well in France and Hermione's safe._

* * *

Arthur, Charlie and Anryn arrived soon at Mrs. Figg's. Mundungus had disappeared in one of the bushes around Privet Drive. His shift ended at 9 PM. In the meantime, Molly and the teenagers had removed all the mess in the old lady's house.

"Well, are you ready?" Arthur asked.

"One more minute, dad" Ginny answered, carrying a full dustbin.

So Arthur turned to Anryn. "So I'll talk with Dumbledore again, I'm sure it won't be a problem for you to join the Order."

"That would be great" The young woman replied. Arthur could see that she was serious.

"There's nothing left to do for me, I think," Neville said. "I'll floo directly home to my grandmother. Thanks for everything, Mr. Weasley."

"No problem, Neville" Arthur said smiling. They shook hands; Neville said good-bye to Ron and Ginny, throwing a handful of floo powder into the fireplace. He stepped into the flames, flooing home.

Arthur told Ginny and Ron to go home via floo network, as they hadn't learned to apparate yet. Mrs. Weasley followed via floo.

"Well, dad, we're disapparating!" said the twins in unison and with a loud "POP" they were gone.

"Dad, wait a second" said Charlie. "Anryn accompanies us; I want to lend her some books, okay?"

"Alright, Charlie," the three of them apparated to the Burrow, where a scene of horror was awaiting them.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Harry packs his trunk to go to the Burrow, and the Death Eaters come to Cho again and finally want her to do something. She has no choice and obeys, but in the end she regrets her decision and tries to stop the approaching catastrophe. 


End file.
